studebaker hoch:At least you can see a shark before you've got one down your swim trunks.

Not with Great Whites you can't. They like to come up from below you and do a surprise attack. Hell, they will hit you so fast that they will launch you and their entire body above the surface of the water.

I grew up being fairly obsessed with great white sharks due to Jaws and Shark Week. They terrified me... I used to be scared of the drain in the deep end of my nana's pool. She lived on a canal and I was certain that a shark could just chomp it's way from the canal up the pipes into the pool. The imagination of a child.

I still am scared of sharks but I'm not going to let that stop me from swimming in the ocean. The caribbean is best- it's like swimming in a bathtub and you can really see everything going on around you. I don't swim nearly as often here in Florida- bull sharks scare me more than great whites, and we get lots of bites around here. But sometimes on a hot summer's day it's so worth it to jump in the salt water and body surf the waves.

That being said, he was not a smart man for swimming so far off the shore. It's terrible what happened, but if a shark didn't get him, a rip tide may have instead.

WippitGuud:gremlin1: When I was a child I spent the day at the beach with my family on the way home we stopped at the docks to pick up some lobster for dinner. A fishing boat had just unloaded a shark. Being a small child I asked my Dad "What is that?" he told me that it was a shark. I asked "Where did it come from?" he explained that it was caught just off the coast. That was the last time I went swimming in the ocean and that was long before Jaws. Thankfully we lived by a lake and only visited the ocean for 2 weeks every summer otherwise I probably would have had a total fear of the water.

I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada. The largest confirmed great white ever caught was just off our coast - 20.3 ft. And yet there has never been a shark sighting from land here, ever.

That was in 1983. In 1945, a shark measuring 21.3' was caught in Cuban waters. This appears to be the largest VERIFIED Great White ever captured.

RoxtarRyan:Yeah, fark that. I'll go in the ocean, but I'll make sure there is someone out farther out that I am, and more tasty looking. Once you get into water more than shoulder deep... we drop way too many notches on the food chain than I'm comfortable with.

arghyematey:I don't swim nearly as often here in Florida- bull sharks scare me more than great whites, and we get lots of bites around here.

God, this. If I'm not mistaken, bulls have the highest testerone levels of any species known to man. Not a fish you want to run into. Still, ocean=big. Odds of attack=miniscule. I don't go as often as I used to, but I love it when I do.

H31N0US:ten foiled hats: TiiiMMMaHHH: ten foiled hats: H31N0US: I swim in the ocean. Swam in it all my life. Will swim again. In the shark attack capital of the world.

Me, too. Have you moved, though, or do you visit often?

tell darwin I said hello when you see him.

Attack capital, not fatality capital. But yeah, I will if I happen across him.

Yep I live in Jersey now but will be swimming in the warm water off Conn beach in Vero later in March.

At least you can see a shark before you've got one down your swim trunks.

QFT. I had a bunch of tiny ones sting the hell out of my legs and groin while diving in Bali. Just swimming along, examining the coral, and WHAM it felt like about 100 wasps stung me at once. Hurt for three days afterwards. Still, it could have been worse:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irukandji_jellyfish

TNel:Cup_O_Jo: OMG Sharks have paws? When did this happen. Shark mauling.. LOL

mauled past participle, past tense of maul (Verb)Verb(of an animal) Wound (a person or animal) by scratching and tearing.Yes sharks can maul you, it doesn't have to have feet or paws to maul.

1. to handle clumsily; paw 2. to batter or lacerate Yes, I know this at the same time almost always it is about handling something. Not usually with the teeth. I looked it up before I made fun of it. Grow a sense of humor comic book guy.

ten foiled hats:arghyematey: I don't swim nearly as often here in Florida- bull sharks scare me more than great whites, and we get lots of bites around here.

God, this. If I'm not mistaken, bulls have the highest testerone levels of any species known to man. Not a fish you want to run into. Still, ocean=big. Odds of attack=miniscule. I don't go as often as I used to, but I love it when I do.H31N0US: ten foiled hats: TiiiMMMaHHH: ten foiled hats: H31N0US: I swim in the ocean. Swam in it all my life. Will swim again. In the shark attack capital of the world.

Me, too. Have you moved, though, or do you visit often?

tell darwin I said hello when you see him.

Attack capital, not fatality capital. But yeah, I will if I happen across him.

Yep I live in Jersey now but will be swimming in the warm water off Conn beach in Vero later in March.

Not with Great Whites you can't. They like to come up from below you and do a surprise attack. Hell, they will hit you so fast that they will launch you and their entire body above the surface of the water.

Shark please!

A torso with a head and arms isn't going to feel anything but a headrush for a few seconds before lights out.

Box jelly to the junk is going to be a month-long carnival of pain, ending in huge hospital bills and losing your dick.

It's not horribly sensationalized, it has no narration, and the Kiwis in it are really dignified. This event is a huge blow for a small country. Where I live in So Cal there was a father killed by a shark not too long ago. He was swimming with a group and the shark bit an artery and that pretty much exsanguinated him on the spot.

TNel:That's why I will not swim in the ocean. Humans are not apex predators once we step foot into the water, screw it the sharks can have the water.

I know the odds of getting attacked are slim to none but that guy probably thought the same thing before he became dinner. Just need to get the kids terrified of sharks and then I won't ever have to go the beach again (other than lakes of course, and then only waist deep... damn phobias)